Moistfly

Just a question for all the experienced riders because I've never been in a position like this before but it looks like I might this weekend ... going to be doing a century with 500+ riders, weather reports indicate there's going to be a 15-25mph headwind with 30+mph gusts for about 40% of the ride ... If you felt like the pack was moving at a pace quicker than you're comfortable with for completing the century, do you try to stay with the pack so you're less fatigued by the wind, or go it alone/small group so you're les fatigued by the pack?

roadfix

Find yourself a comfortably paced group and draft.

merlinextraligh

with 500 plus riders, you should be a ble to find a group you'r comfortable with. Riding by yourself with a 15-25 mph headwind will be one heck of a lot harder than with a group. Only caveot, is be careful of who you're riding with, not overlapping wheels and keeping your head up for what's happening ahead. 30mph gusts, and people with different levels of bike handling skills favors crashes.

Keith99

My only slight modification is that I'd be willing to work harder to stay with a group early on and then drop off and take it easy and join a group as they past me. That is as opposed to trying to find the right group right away. The reason is that this way I'm in front of the group I want and they will 'find me' eventually. If you get behind all the groups you would want to join then you will never catch them in a 15 MPH head wind. It is also nice to be up front (compared to the speed you want to ride) because if you get dropped because of trouble passing a slower rider or group or because of mechanicals you can join a later group.

15 MPH winds make a huge difference, now as long as there is one rider who can keep a good pace into the wind even very average riders will get huge benefits from a draft.

EventServices

+1
You'll magically find your spot in the line that suits you - as long as you're honest with yourself when you're in a line that's not right for you.

Moistfly

Fair enough, thanks for the input everyone

... they keep revising the forcast, now it's 20+ after about 9am ... hopefully by then we'll have made the turn and I'll have a nice strong tailwind

park

I did a 164 mile ride some years back that started with 900 riders. For the first 100 miles I rode behind a wall of maybe 50 riders riding two and three abreast. The super strong riders would take turns with pulls but this activity took place at the very front of the pack. Everyone else just sat in cruising along at an effortless 24+ mph. The huge group cut the wind like I was motopacing behind a Hummer. It was a blast until the pack thinned out to around 10 riders and I had to actually do some work.

Moistfly

Well if anyone cares about 80% of the ride was done with one other guy and the last bit we had a pack of 6 ... wind absolutely obliterated us the last 15 miles or so but we were able to finish 108 miles in 6:10:23 ... other than the wind it was a fantastic ride ... they even had a massage at the lunch pit stop